Top Banner

Spoliation reports

This institution also provides a list of works with incomplete provenance during the period 1933-1945.

Amgueddfa Cymru - NATIONAL MUSEUM WALES

(Art Department, National Museum Cardiff)

National Museum Wales
Cathays Park
CARDIFF CF10 3NP

Contact for all enquiries about Holocaust or WWII Spoliation:
Oliver Fairclough, Keeper of Art.
Tel 029 20 573275
Fax 029 20 573351

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF COLLECTION

Comprises the National Museum Cardiff; St Fagans National History Museum; National Roman Legion Museum, Caerleon; Big Pit National Coal Museum, Blaenafon; National Slate Museum, Llanberis; National Wool Museum, Dre-fach Felindre and the National Waterfront Museum, Swansea.; Segontium Roman Fort Museum, Caernarfon and the Turner House Gallery, Penarth.

Art Department
Fine and Applied Art from the Renaissance to the present. Both a museum of the history of art in Wales and the national museum and gallery of art and design for Wales. Collections consist of 2,200 oil paintings and sculptures, 28,000 works on paper and 12,000 Applied Art objects.

1. OVERALL PLANS A Areas which could contain looted items

European works made prior to 1945, and acquired by the National Museum Wales after 1933. The active collection policy for European works commenced in the 1950's.

B Areas excluded and why

C Target areas and timetable for research
Research has been undertaken as part of an on-going re-inventory of the art collection. First priority remains oil paintings and sculpture created before 1945 and acquired after 1933.

After this attention will focus on works on paper. Ninety-per cent of the 28,000 prints and drawings collection consists of British works. Over 12,000 of these have now been re-inventoried. The number of European works (see A above) is small. European watercolours and drawings in the Davies Collection (see B above) have been checked and their provenance appears to be satisfactory for the period 1933 to 1945. Complete re-inventory of all works on paper, including engravings, by the end of 2003, will allow retrieval of provenance information on these works.

Initial research has been completed on all 414 pieces of European and Oriental pottery, porcelain, glass, silver and one tapestry. There is no reason to believe that any item may have been the subject of spoliation.

D Areas considered a lower priority and why
British works of art. The vast majority of the holdings of British fine art are either twentieth century works acquired direct from the artists, their dealers, or their estates, or historic Welsh portraits and landscapes, mainly from old Welsh collections. Their financial value and market appeal are generally modest, and it is unlikely that they have ever left the UK. The National Museum Wales lacks the curatorial resources to conclusively demonstrate their whereabouts between 1933-45.

2. RESEARCH CARRIED OUT OR BEING CARRIED OUT IN TARGET AREAS.

A. Process and Sources for initial checks from information readily to hand

Provenance records for paintings and sculpture falling within the operative area have now been checked, together with those of 21 works on paper from the Davies Collection. Research has been completed on those for applied art in the operative areas.

B. Description of checks being carried out beyond desk research
The National Museum Wales has no curatorial resources to carry out further research.

3. INFORMATION REGARDING PROGRESS IN TARGET AREA

A. No. of items in target area

52 oil paintings, 12 sculptures and 415 Applied Art objects.

B. No. of items where provenance has been tested satisfactorily.
25 oil paintings and 169 Applied Art Objects.

C. No. of items where initial checks on provenance are still being made from internal sources and information readily to hand.
None

D. No. of items for which initial research can be taken no further
27 oil paintings and 12 sculptures and 246 Applied Art objects..

4. INFORMATION ON MAKING GENERAL ENQUIRIES OR ABOUT COLLECTIONS

A. Contact for all enquiries about Holocaust or WWII Spoliation

Oliver Fairclough, Keeper of Art.
Tel 029 20 573275
Fax 029 20 573351
Email: oliver.fairclough@nmgw.ac.uk

B. Details of Published catalogues and how to get access to them

Catalogues, Publications etc
A List of Paintings and Sculpture in the National Museum of Wales. 1972

Website
Includes a brief description of the art collections. A list of all paintings and sculpture in National Museum Wales' Art Department will appear on the website shortly (target date June 2001).

Displays
There are currently 499 oil paintings and 188 sculptures on display at the National Museum Cardiff (approximately one third are by Continental artists, and include nearly all those listed as having incomplete or missing provenance for 1933-45). About 2000 Applied Art objects are also on display. Summary details of acquisition are generally included on labels.

Lists in Reading Rooms
Regularly updated list of oil paintings and sculpture in the collection held by Information Desk and Museum Library

Institutional Records
NMGW holds the following:

Access to these records is governed by the Public Record Art and by National Museum Wales' Freedom of Information procedures. Application should be made to the Keeper of Art.

Other Material held as part of Library or Archive Collections
The Library holds many art sales catalogues from the 1920s on, together with historical, biographical and periodical literature on the arts. The Library is open to members of the public by prior appointment with the Librarian.

The Department of Art holds some artist papers, together with research archives, and acquisition documentation. Access to these is by application to the Keeper of Art, as with institutional records.

C. How to make enquiries about collections
Written enquiry to Oliver Fairclough, Keeper of Art.

D. Press office contact
Julie Richards
Tel. 029-20-573485

E. Address of the Institution
National Museum Wales
Cathays Park
CARDIFF CF10 3NP

F. Website
A list of all oil paintings and sculpture appears on National Museum Wales' website at:
http://www.museumwales.ac.uk